HelpMate - ShowCode Hackathon 2021

Inspiration

As programmers we often use tools such as Stack Overflow to find people who have had similar problems to us and learn from their solutions. However, sometimes you can find someone with the same problem as you and nobody has found a solution. We have decided to use Gamification to incentivize users to help each other.

What it does

This application connects people with each other. They can learn new topics, ask things related to their studies. People can like someone's solution if they find it working. Users can make their position on the leader board. They can use their profile in their resumes/CV to make a good impression on the Employer and show their area of expertise. Users are encouraged to help other users in a friendly but competitive way through gamification using a leader board. Users can also interact through video calls to allow more help than sites such as StackOverflow can provide.

How we built it

The front-end application is created using Flutter so the app can be used across both Android & iOS Mobile Platforms
The Application data is stored using Google Firebase which allows developers to store JSON objects in a database in a similar fashion to MongoDB
Our developers collaborated using Scrum Techniques over Trello, code was worked out collaboratively using GitHub.

Challenges we ran into

Two team members dropped out of the competition due to mental health - which is understandable considering the pandemic, and we don't blame them at all.
One team member disappeared - it is what it is, we always had that risk when working with people met online.
Forgot to .gitignore the build folder which lead to issues
Thinking of ideas we took about 4-5 hours on the first day on the idea thinking of an idea
IDE Setup - Wasted a lot of time setting up the Flutter Environment during the hackathon
Code Style / File Structure - Different people have different code styles and structure their files in different ways, after a day of working on the project we decided to sit down and agree on how we structure the files so it is consistent.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Functioning MVC Cross-platform Flutter application made within 48 hours
Still continuing and finishing the project despite members dropping out
0 merge conflicts as far as I can remember, we planned out who was doing what at what time meticulously so peoples work would not be overwritten.
Completed the Trello backlog despite losing members

What we learned

When looking for team members look for people who have had experience on group projects before to avoid complications, or some of their own unique software projects.
Flutter
Google FireBase API
Flutter Agora Module for Video calls
Good experience programming collaboratively

What's next for HelpMate

People would help others and they can use their profile in their CV/Resume to make a good impression on the employers.
Users can make friends and rate when someone helps them on Video/Audio Calls.
Users will have a healthy competition with their friends.